Ladies Who Launch Sign Up Information

ANNOUNCING THE GRANT + MENTORSHIP PROGRAM
FOR WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS 
BROUGHT TO YOU BY LADIES WHO LAUNCH

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Over the last 5 months, you have shared your fears, your plans to pivot, your experience actually surviving COVID-19 (with a newborn and running your business - WHOA) and most importantly, your top tips for other women entrepreneurs to help each other through these challenging times. 

When asked "what would most help you?" the consistent response was that you needed funding to help manage, innovate, or grow your business. We heard you.

We are thrilled to share our newest endeavor, the Launch Program!

With this program, we aim to bring all three of our pillars to the forefront: Inspiration, Education, and Community to support women business owners impacted by COVID-19 with what they need most - access to capital and a support team.

Rooted in equity and inclusion, the year-long program provides an immediate cash grant between $5,000 and $25,000 USD in addition to mentorship, advisory support, and amplification for women (female identifying or non-binary) entrepreneurs.

Applications are now open, so head on over to www.ladieswholaunch.org to learn more about the program, and please share the opportunity with your US-based women entrepreneur networks. ??
 

Ladies Who Launch is excited to host our very first Virtual Summit! 

Join us on November 18th and 19th 2020 where we''ll come together to celebrate and empower women entrepreneurs. The 2020 Virtual Summit will include two days of virtual programming including fireside chats, entrepreneurial networking sessions, workshops, and keynote addresses to help women-led companies of all sizes and stages share their advice and network with one another. 

Keynote speakers include Katrina Lake, Founder of Stitch Fix who will share her entrepreneurial journey and key insights she's learned over the last year, as well as Shan-Lyn Ma, Founder of Zola, who will discuss her experience navigating through a pandemic and her leadership advice for all women entrepreneurs.

We have loads more planned (speed networking, workshops, and a few fun surprises), so be sure to keep a close eye as we announce more sessions and speakers, interactive partner workshops, and additional ways to connect with other women in business!

LAUNCHERS, 

The LWL team just came off a Happy Vibes Workshop with Jaime Komer (more on Jaime below) and though anxious about the world around us, together we are feeling more positive, and energized, particularly by the conversations we get to have with you. 

We know the news cycle is tough and business owners are struggling. We miss hugging you at events and seeing the magic when two women make a new connection. However, as LWL (like so many) have pivoted our organization in the midst of this pandemic, we are finding new insights like how special it is to bring two leading woman entrepreneurs from Sydney and Marin together, connecting with you thanks to Female Founder Office Hours with Anthemis and sharing a virtual cocktail for happy hour.  

Let us know the silver linings you are experiencing through these times by tagging us or adding #LWLGlobal and we would love to share your wins with this amazing community. 

FEATURED FOUNDER: 
Jaime Komer, Empowerment Coach and Founder of Happy Vibes

REAL TALK
Pop those earbuds in and take a listen

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP: 
"A Leader Doesn''t Have to Wear Prada" by Virginia Mendez

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1. Victress Capital, a fund founded by women to back women founders, just closed its second fund: Victress is focused on tech-enabled consumer services, marketplaces and digitally native brands.  

2. How Bembien Founder Yi-Mei Truxes Turned a $20,000 Investment Into Summer's Most Coveted Bag Brand: The 33-year-old founder of Bembien and former marketing director at Vogue shares how she grew her side hustle into a profitable business from day one. 

3. I Can't Keep Doing This: Don't give up launchers! Pivot, grow, fight, cry, but if you can keep going or find a way through, know we are here by your side. Let us know how we can help.

4. Global State of Small Business: The Future of Business Survey, an ongoing collaboration between Facebook, the World Bank, and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), surveyed small and medium businesses in more than 50 countries and regions in May 2020, to understand their experiences and need for support

5. For our California launchers, check out these resources and support our diverse California storefronts, makers, manufacturers, restaurants, and service providers from every corner of the golden state.

> >  As always, catch our top 5 weekly roundup for women entrepreneurs every Monday as part of our Weekly Roundup

LAUNCHERS 

What creative solutions help create a brand identity for my social channels? What is the best platform to help me build and share a pitch deck? What tools help me scale client billing? What do other women entrepreneurs do to help clear their mind in this WFH world? 

This month we are sharing our best "Entrepreneur Hacks" to roundup the LWL Community tips and tools to help you manage your business and life. If you have any recommendations or other hacks we need to share, let us know! 

And in the parting sanity top tips recommendation from EO Products Founder Susan-Griffin Black to help blow off steam - "Work out! I just recently revisited the Jane Fonda workout!"
so maybe you want to give that a go this week ??

FEATURED FOUNDER 
Irma Mesa (she/her/hers) Founder of Cafecito

FEATURED FOUNDER 
Bridgid Coulter (she/her/hers) Founder of Blackbird House

1. The State Of Global Venture Funding During COVID
2. Empowering Female Founders: White Paper by Anthemis
3. Women Entrepreneurs Share How They Increased Revenue During Covid. And How You Can, Too.
4. We need to revisit the small business lending process for women entrepreneurs
5. Women in the Workplace: Data show that due to the Covid-19 pandemic, 1 in 4 women are considering downshifting their careers or leaving the workforce. In a single year, all the gains made in the representation of women in management since the first year of this study could be erased. 

LAUNCHERS, 

Thank you for all who applied to the Launch Program and spread the word to your networks. We have been inspired going through your applications and learning about your plans to pivot, grow and innovate. We look forward to sharing selected applicants soon, so stay tuned. For our International launchers, keep fighting and we hope to bring this program global to you! A few key stats when reviewing the data stuck out to us: 

What stuck out to us most was the passion, grit and tenacity of the women who applied. You are all fighting to keep your dreams going, and though Covid-19 caused a setback, you are strong, and are not giving up. As one applicant so perfectly stated: 

"Though this has been the most stressful year of my life, I am going to come out stronger on the other side. Our team is looking into all avenues to make it through this, we are shaking every tree for extra dollars, we are trying new things we never would have been compelled to go after, and no matter what, we will still be standing in 2021. My company is my passion and dream, and it only goes down when I say it does". 

Can we get an AMEN? You have the LWL community by your side fighting for you to keep going. This month, in honor of this incredible group of tenacious leaders, we are dedicating our features and spotlights to women building and leading communities. Take a read through and let us know if any other favorite communities you want us to highlight! 

FEATURED FOUNDER:
 Karen Chung - Founder of Kossie

REAL TALK
Pop those earbuds in and take a listen

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1. 5 Women Entrepreneurs Who Succeeded With Out-Of-The-Box Ideas
2. The State of Global Venture Funding During COVID-19
3. The Best Business Grants for Women in 2020  
4. The 12 most active US investors in European fintech
5. Fundraising Vs. Bootstrapping: How To Decide What You Need For Your Tech Startup

LAUNCHERS, 
 

As August comes to a close, our celebration of Black Business month culminates with a focus on on supporting and investing in Black owned businesses. A recent RateMyInvestor and DiversityVC study found that 81 percent of VC funds have no Black investors and venture capital firms distribute a mere 3% of funding to Black founders, and of that, less than 1% goes to Black female founders. So let that sink in, then put your money where it can make a difference:

Otherwise. check out a few of our select highlights on incredible women entrepreneurs who are building inspiring companies that will have far reaching impacts across the world.  Read on to hear about their journeys as an entrepreneur and where they are headed next! ??

FEATURED FOUNDER:
 NYDIA SIMONE - FOUNDER OF BLACTINA MEDIA

REAL TALK
Pop those earbuds in and take a listen

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1. This Is the No. 1 Struggle Holding Women Entrepreneurs Back
2. Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative invests in over 15000 women-led businesses 
3. The Surprising Findings of this Global Women Entrepreneurs Forecast
4. CEE investors pick potential winners in a post-Covid world
5. Huckletree, the home of entrepreneurs in the UK and Ireland, has launched Renegade Academy, a startup bootcamp for aspiring founders.

ANNOUNCING THE GRANT + MENTORSHIP PROGRAM
FOR WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS 
BROUGHT TO YOU BY LADIES WHO LAUNCH

---

Over the last 5 months, you have shared your fears, your plans to pivot, your experience actually surviving COVID-19 (with a newborn and running your business - WHOA) and most importantly, your top tips for other women entrepreneurs to help each other through these challenging times. 

When asked "what would most help you?" the consistent response was that you needed funding to help manage, innovate, or grow your business. We heard you.

We are thrilled to share our newest endeavor, the Launch Program!

With this program, we aim to bring all three of our pillars to the forefront: Inspiration, Education, and Community to support women business owners impacted by COVID-19 with what they need most - access to capital and a support team.

Rooted in equity and inclusion, the year-long program provides an immediate cash grant between $5,000 and $25,000 USD in addition to mentorship, advisory support, and amplification for women (female identifying or non-binary) entrepreneurs.

Applications are now open, so head on over to www.ladieswholaunch.org to learn more about the program, and please share the opportunity with your US-based women entrepreneur networks. ??
 

LAUNCHERS, 
 

August 1st marked the beginning of the 14th annual National Black Business Month, an observance that highlights and celebrates the important contributions from Black-owned businesses. According to a new study commissioned by the National Black Chamber of Commerce, 75% of Black small businesses have seen an uptick in customers since the beginning of June. While the increase in business has been welcome, particularly in light of the devastating economic impact of COVID-19, the study and the data below reinforce the inequities that Black entrepreneurs continue to face.  
 

• Based on data from the 2018 Small Business Credit Survey, the Brookings Institution found that large banks approve around 60 percent of loans sought by white small-business owners, 50 percent of those sought by Hispanic or Latinx small-business owners, and just 29 percent of those sought by black small-business owners (McKinsey report) 
• Black-owned businesses tend to start out with far less capital, whether from investments or bank loans, than white-owned businesses do. And only 1% of black business owners get a bank loan in their first year of business, compared with 7% of white business owners. Twice as many white business owners-30% of the total-use business credit cards during their first year compared with 15% of black business owners.  
• The number of working Black business owners in the United States plummeted more than 40 percent as the coronavirus shut down much of the economy
• 42% of minority-owned small businesses responding to McKinsey's US Small Business Pulse Survey reported that obtaining credit was becoming increasingly difficult due to Covid-19, compared with 29% of all respondents.

FEATURED FOUNDER: 
PRECIOUS WILLIAMS OWODUNNI - PRESIDENT OF MOUNTAINTOP CONSULTING

REAL TALK
Pop those earbuds in and take a listen

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1.  Black Women Entrepreneurs Need Support To Keep Their Communities Strong
2.  Kamala Harris Is Biden's VP Pick But What Does That Mean For Black Women Entrepreneurship?
3.  How Women Invest will target female founders with $10 million fund
4.  Women Are Leading Latin America's Fintech Revolution
5.  An Exclusive Guide to America's Most Inspiring Entrepreneurs

> >  As always, catch our top 5 weekly roundup for women entrepreneurs every Monday as part of our Weekly Roundup